Good morning!
Welcome to your morning coffee! May our Heavenly Father continue to call out to us to know Him, to love Him, and to obey Him. Father, reveal anything in us that cries out "NO!" to you. My pride. Heavenly Father I need your help with pride. It brings me low and blames others. It causes me to remember myself and forget you. It brings me nothing good, ever. Father, in the name of your Son Jesus, and by the power of the Spirit who is making us more like Him, show us our pride today. And help us to deny ourselves. Amen!
Your Morning Song: "Carry Me" by Needtobreathe (ft. Jon Foreman)
Your Morning Scripture: Proverbs 29:23
Pride brings a person low,
but the lowly in spirit gain honor.
...
How much thought do we give to our pride? How often and how deeply do we consider the ways in which our pride lurks and lives within us, needing to be daily dealt with, daily denied?
There was a group of young men, friends, brothers in Christ, who decided to try something. Any time one of them would get upset, if it was a matter of pride, that one would quickly yell, "ding!" And, of course being young men, they would also do it to each other, yelling "ding!" The idea was that each one of them had pride, and for them, they treated their pride like a bell. If something happened to offend their pride, then it was a bell that had been rung, "ding!"
So they would use the absurd "ding" to confront their own and each other's pride. Giving each other permission to help each other figure out what was going on with their pride. And how to say sorry to each other. How to deny their pride. How to ridicule their pride, and yet also take it seriously.
I could have yelled, "ding!" recently. Someone did and said something that hurt my pride. Were they wrong? Perhaps. Wholly wrong? Certainly not. But my pride, my pride, my pride... ding, ding, ding!
In that moment I recognized that it was my pride that was hurt. I had not been betrayed. I had not been attacked. I had only been criticized. How should we respond to these moments? We all have pride. What does the Bible say about our pride?
Pride brings a person low.
But the lowly in spirit gain honor.
The criticism did not bring me low, my injured pride did. The criticism itself had value to make me wise. And by receiving it with joy, my reputation would grow stronger, how much more so God's reputation!
Those are the two "secrets" about pride that we try to ignore. The things and people that we think are hurting us, are not. It is our pride hurting us. And by naming our pride, specifically, and rejecting it, denying ourselves, we are rewarded by God. Our pride is the problem. And if we deny our pride, God delights in giving us honor and respect, on His terms.
Had your pride rung recently? What did you do? If you denied yourself and were honored by God, wonderful! Well done good and faithful servant!
Perhaps you did not deny yourself, and instead allowed your own pride to wound you while blaming some "other."
What are we going to do? Do we have siblings in Christ we can be accountable with? Do we have someone we can yell, "ding!" to? Can we ask God in prayer to help us wage war on our own pride?
How will we respond when our pride is rung aloud?
Rejoice with God in your faithful responses.
Repent to God over your selfish responses.
And then rejoice.
Commentaires